In what appears to be a deepening rift within the Meghalaya unit of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), contrasting political postures have emerged over the leadership crisis in the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council (GHADC). Just a day after BJP State Vice President and Tura GHADC Member Bernard N. Marak fired a political broadside at the National People’s Party (NPP)-led Executive Committee, demanding its ouster and a BJP-led takeover of the Council, senior BJP legislator and Cabinet Minister AL Hek struck a markedly softer tone, refusing to directly endorse the aggressive move.
While Marak’s letter to Assam Chief Minister and North East Democratic Alliance (NEDA) Chairman Himanta Biswa Sarma accused the Conrad Sangma-led NPP of presiding over a “systemic failure” and betraying the 2014 Garo Accord, Hek avoided taking a confrontational stand. Instead, he called for institutional responsibility in ensuring salaries are paid to GHADC employees, who remain unpaid for over 43 months.
“Those who are employer must pay salary to their employees,” Hek stated, carefully refraining from criticizing the NPP regime or commenting on Marak’s demand for regime change in GHADC. On the BJP’s formal outreach to constitutional authorities, he said, “It is good that they (BJP) has brought it to the notice of the Governor, they (BJP) has brought it to the knowledge of the Prime Minister, they (BJP) has brought it to the knowledge of the other state Chief Minister, to bring it to the knowledge of the higher authority—it’s good, it’s not a wrong thing. They can go to any higher authority and flag their problem. That is not a problem.”
Pressed further on whether the NPP-led Executive Committee should be removed for failing to disburse pending salaries, Hek avoided a direct answer but reiterated, “It is the duty and the responsibility of the employer who were employing them should pay the salaries.”
Taking a broader view, Hek stressed the duty of all institutions—governmental or private—to fulfill their financial obligations. “GHADC: People are working, they are employees of the Garo Hills Autonomous District Council, they have been working for so many years, many months. So why they have not been paid? It is our duty as a government to see that the salary should be given to those who are already working,” he said, adding, “It is the bounded responsibility of any institution, any government organisation to pay the salary of the staff.”
On the ongoing revenue-versus-aid debate concerning GHADC’s financial self-reliance, Hek maintained, “All these years how they were paying the salary—through their own revenue or are being paid by the state government—that I don’t know. First we have to find the fact. They are working for the state government and it is the duty of the government to give them salary.”
Despite Marak’s explosive letter painting the NPP as a failed administrator and urging NEDA to facilitate a BJP-led transition, Hek asserted that the government may already be addressing the issue internally. “I cannot say the state government is not doing anything to solve the problem. Maybe the government is doing their own. We have the Chief Minister, we have Deputy Chief Minister in-charge of District Council Affairs—they are doing their duties to discharge their responsibilities.”
The growing divergence in public messaging within the Meghalaya BJP signals internal friction, even as Marak’s letter, dated August 18, set the political stage ablaze. Accusing the state government of crippling the Council by withholding departmental transfers and revenue shares promised under the Garo Accord, Marak wrote, “The result has been a financial collapse, with GHADC employees left unpaid for 43 months and the Council stripped of its core responsibilities.”
Making an unabashed pitch for BJP control, he declared, “I now appeal to you to consider entrusting the administration of GHADC to the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), whose commitment to constitutional governance and grassroots empowerment has been consistently demonstrated across the region.”
In what could potentially reshape the political landscape of Garo Hills, Bernard’s salvo has escalated pressure on the NPP while forcing a reckoning within the BJP’s own ranks. As the political dust settles, all eyes will now be on NEDA and its convener Himanta Biswa Sarma to see whether the demand triggers a reconfiguration of power in GHADC—or deepens the fault lines within the saffron party.
